Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1 Review

Introduction

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1 is the first foray by Panasonic into the digital
SLR market, and the Japanese consumer electronics giant has
certainly taken an interesting approach. Instead of starting
off slowly with an entry-level, beginner's camera, Panasonic
has attempted to make its long-term intentions clear by launching
a much
more serious and distinctive camera. With a background in
electronics, it made
sense for
Panasonic to ally itself with two photographic veterans,
and the DMC-L1 features
Leica technology for the optical system, and is based on
the Four Thirds sensor standard as championed primarily
by Olympus. The DMC-L1 has a traditional rangefinder style quite unlike most other
DSLR camera and also features Panasonic's Optical Image Stabiliser
system. The standard kit lens is worthy of mention - this
is no lightweight plastic model with a large aperture,
but the LEICA D VARIO-ELMARIT 14-50mm/F2.8-3.5 lens, equivalent
to 28-100mm in 35mm camera terms. So the Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1
is certainly a unique package, but can it compete with some
tough competition in what is quickly becoming a crowded marketplace?
Carry on reading to find out.

Compare Prices

Support PhotographyBLOG: Buy the Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1 from
one of our affiliate retailers:

Ease of Use

Lending the L1 premium status, the traditional-feel build is identical in appearance
to Leica's more costly Digilux 3 camera. This, aside from
its rangefinder-like chunkiness and added weight in comparison
with budget DSLRs, partly justifies the hefty price tag (£1500
in the UK, with Leica D Vario-Elmarit 14-50mm f2.8-3.5 lens
bundle). You also get such features as dust reduction in
the shape of a Supersonic Wave Filter, and processing duties
– including noise reduction – conducted by Panasonic's Venus
Engine III.

The bulk of body and lens combined
is slightly ironic when you consider one of Olympus' foremost
claims for Four Thirds was that it was meant to allow for
physically smaller lenses and camera bodies. Something else
that may be off-putting for those looking for – or upgrading
from – a suitable baby
DSLR, is the fact that the 7.5 megapixel top resolution provided
by the Live MOS sensor falls short of the 10 megapixels typically
offered by CCD or CMOS sporting DSLRs in this price range.
Another talking point is the L1's ability to conduct live
previews
of the image via the LCD
screen – a feature introduced by Olympus but still relatively
unheard of on DSLRs. There's even a clearly marked, dedicated
'live view' button that sits above the monitor to allow users
to do so.

Atop the camera you get a dial for controlling shutter speed where a mode dial
is more commonly located on comparative DSLRs. The dial has
just the right amount of stiffness and resistance so that
you don't accidentally flick past the setting you actually
wanted. Ergonomically situated at its centre is a shutter
release button, which is nicely springy to the touch. Below
this dial are two levers. The forward situated lever falling
under the forefinger controls the metering – spot, multiple
or centre-weighted, while the rear lever – falling under
the thumb – governs the drive modes. Here you get the options
of single shot, burst mode (two high or low settings: 3fps
or 2fps), auto bracketing and self-timer.

Between these two levers, and still on the camera top, is a pair of function
buttons for rapid access to frequently used settings. These
are used in conjunction with the LCD display, which can be
tabbed through using the one-and-only command dial found
on the rear of the camera. This might perhaps have been better
located forward of the shutter release, but it falls under
the thumb naturally enough. Immediately to the left of this,
if viewed from the back, is the pop up flashgun, stored compactly
flush to the body when not in use, and, again to the left,
a hot shoe for supplementary flash.

Main Controls - Rear

Main Controls - Top

So to the camera front or 'business
end': For those enthusiasts who relish the chance to get
hands on, there's not just a manual focus and zoom ring around
the supplied lens, but also one for manually selecting the
right aperture too. A lens hood further augments the quality
optic. Jutting forward beneath the Lumix
logo on the body itself is a rubberized grip, which, though
not especially prominent is just enough to allow a firm single
handed hold on the camera when lens is attached. Top right
of the lens, viewed from the front is the AF assist lamp/self-timer
lamp, below which
is the self-evident release button for the lens itself.

Moving to the right hand side of the
camera (viewing it from the back) is a sliding door for the
card compartment – the L1 takes Secure Digital cards only,
and typically none is supplied out of the box. On the left
hand side is an almost invisible flap covering ports for
AV out/optional remote plus a five-pin USB. Beneath the camera
there's a screw thread for mounting the L1 on a tripod, plus
a door for the
battery compartment, housed within the grip itself and protected
from accidentally opening by a firm locking lever.

And so to the camera back, where the
majority of function buttons are arranged in a horseshoe
shape around the LCD, meaning that they fall readily under
the thumbs of your right or left hand as you grip the camera
and allow for rapid changes on the, er, hoof. Apart from
the aforementioned live view button, next to this you get
a button
for activating
the flash, adjacent to which is a three-way switch for switching
between the focus modes – AFS (single shot auto focus), AFC
(continuous auto focus) or manual focus. Inset within this
switch is a thumbnail-activated AF/AE lock button, for fixing
focus and exposure. Just below sits the playback button
with the familiar horizontal green triangle icon, below which
is the equally self-explanatory 'display' button, which of
course turns the LCD display on/off.

Beneath this sits an aperture stopping down button which comes into its own when
using the screen for shot composition – allowing you to check
depth-of-field before pressing the shutter – while if using
the viewfinder it has no effect at all. Just below is a dedicated
delete button. Swapping over to the left hand side of the
LCD, again looking at the back, and starting from the bottom
up this time, is a really useful button for adjusting the
intensity of the flash's output. Above this is a further
button for swapping between the flash settings, and above
this again another equally clearly marked button for selecting
ISO speeds. The final button atop these on the left is one
for adjusting white balance. With all of these, the buttons
need to be held down and the command dial turned in tandem to effect changes.

Above these buttons – and to the far left of the camera back – juts back the
eyepiece for the optical viewfinder, which, though reasonably
clear in daylight, does become less useful in low light.
For the short sighted among us typically it comes with its
own dioptric adjustment dial to the left hand side. Still
on the back, and to the top of the far right hand side, is
a chunky on/off switch, below which is that command dial
and, at the bottom of the right side, a four-way control
pad that will be familiar to any digital camera user for
tabbing through menus and captured images. With an initial
press of the dual- use button in the middle marked 'menu/set'
you get a series of menu folders on screen. Once you have
used the control buttons to tab to the option you want, a second press effects any changes to the settings.

Pop-up Flash

Mega O.I.S

The four main menu folders are thus
easily navigated and clearly laid out, divided into a shooting
menu, a set up menu, a custom menu and a playback menu.
The first, the shooting menu, features three screens: allowing
the adjustment of the likes of image
size and quality, as well as switching RAW recording on/of
f – with JPEG being the default. More unusually, and a bit
of an anachronism on a digital camera, you get the choice
of four film modes – standard being the default setting,
dynamic, nature and smooth being the others. In the set up
menu you get the opportunity to adjust the basics like date
and time, reset all options,
adjust TV mode from PAL to NTSC and back, and slightly more
usefully adjust monitor brightness. The third menu is the
custom menu, which also allows the adjustment of colour space
– from SRGB
to Adobe RGB if warranted, plus the ability to turn long
shutter noise reduction on/off or return all settings to
the factory ones. The fourth and final playback menu
allows you to set up image slideshows, rotate images, mark
particular ones as your favourites, protect, resize or trim
images or mark them for direct printing; all pretty standard
stuff.

Although, in reality, there's not
much here that will seem unfamiliar to a user of a basic
DSLR or someone upgrading from a high level compact, the
fact that the regular controls are found in different places
and order means that it takes a little time to familiarize
yourself with the L1. This is a camera use of which really
appreciates with use in proportion to the amount of time
spent with the user manual – helpfully a hard copy is provided
for that very purpose.

It's also as responsive as you'd expect.
The L1's LCD bursts into life on start up, and like budget
DSLRs displays essential shooting information in the absence
of a second LCD window atop the camera, though there's a
wait of a couple of seconds before you can fire off a shot.
A little tardy perhaps for those who want to do more than
shoot landscapes, but then the L1 is a camera for those who
want to manually adjust all those bells and whistles and
really take the time to get it just right. Just pointing
and shooting with such an investment is, well, pointless.

Though there's no sensor shifting
anti shake mechanism built into the camera itself, the supplied
lens does feature optical image stabilization (OIS), which
– for the duration of our usage at least – to our eye achieved
pretty much the same results as the likes of those with built-in
anti-shake (Sony's Alpha 100 for one). But with the weight
of all that hands-on photographic control behind it, does
the L1 actually deliver shots you'd be proud to call your
own?

PhotographyBLOG
is a member of the DIWA
organisation. Our test results for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1 have
been submitted to DIWA
for comparison with test results for different samples of
the same camera model supplied by other DIWA
member sites.

Compare Prices

Support PhotographyBLOG: Buy the Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1 from
one of our affiliate retailers: